In Batman's Shadow
by John Hawkman
Summary: Ib'n Al Xuffasch, literally translating as 'Son of the Bat', has to deal with Jonah Hex High School, his neglectful father Batman, and his antagonism with Connor Kent, the son of Superman...
1. Chapter 1

In Batman's Shadow

Chapter One

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Jonah Hex High School was a school founded to teach the children of Justice League members. Yeah, brilliant idea: get a bunch of super-powered emotionally unstable teens, and stick them in one building. There were all these stupid cliques, the alien kids, the kids with meta-human powers, and the kids with gadgets or training, stuff like that. They had this class, just called 'Training', where you practiced using your powers or whatever by fighting with other students. I don't have any powers, and I'm not much of a fighter, but everyone expects me to be some martial arts/detective genius. My name is Ib'n Al Xuffasch Wayne, and I am the son of Bruce Wayne, the Batman.

****

It's not as cool as it sounds. I mean, growing up living in the shadow of a man considered to be the world's greatest hero, do you know what that does to your self esteem? And people say they're jealous of me, saying how awesome it must have been to have him as my dad. They assume I learned to drive in the Batmobile, that Dad taught me how to dodge bullets and that stuff. Yeah, I wish. Dad's always going out on missions to far away locations, always leaving me behind and telling me not to contact him. I always wished I could go live with my mom, but the trouble is, I don't know where she is. I mean, Dad has a lot of girls stay over, like 'aunt' Zatanna, 'aunt' Diana, 'aunt' Selina…you get the idea. Dad said that even he didn't know who my mom was.

****

Anyway, it was two weeks before winter break when my troubles started. It was just before Training, and I was getting changed. Most students wore some kind of costume to training, but I just had on my spare pair of clothes, sometimes I'd wear a domino mask. So there I am, leather jacket and sneakers, minding my own business, and then I start to get a warm feeling in the back of my neck…

"Ah!" I groaned

I turned around and saw the Justice Jerks standing behind me. That was the nickname I had given them, Connor Kent, Rex Stewart, Bart West, and Drusilla Prince. They liked nothing better than picking on non-powered kids.

"Hot enough for you, Ib'n?" Connor grinned, switching off his heat vision

"Leave me alone…" I growled

"Come on," Rex slapped me on the back, almost knocking my spine out, "We're just messing with you."

"Shut up you Nazi," I replied, "Oh! I mean Thanagarian. Sorry, I have trouble telling the difference…"

Rex punched me right in the stomach, which really hurt. Because of his Thanagarian genes, he was a lot tougher than most people.

"Rrrg…" I groaned

"Weakling," grinned Bart

Bart shot forward, and slapped me at super-speed.

"OK, I didn't want to do this," I growled, "Connor, you and I, Level-four fight."

The entire locker room was silent. Level-four duels involved fighting an opponent until they were too injured to continue. The idea of a non-powered student against Super-Boy in a level-four duel was considered suicide.

"Really?" Connor grinned, "OK, that could be fun…"

****

The five of us told Coach Saunders (AKA Vigilante) about our fight.

"Shoot, Ib'n," he said, from behind his neckerchief, "Are you sure? Level four? You know we can't be held accountable for anything that could happen to you!"

"I know, sir," I replied, "Don't worry, I have a lot of health insurance."

"Well…can I at least give you a weapon or something?"

"No thank you, sir, I'll be fine on my own."

"OK…attention everyone! Level four fight in the gym!"

****

Soon, most of the school was in the gym, sitting in the bleachers. The two of us walked into the basketball court (Yes, that's where we fight); Connor wearing his Super-boy costume, me in my leather jacket, sneakers, and mask.

"Ib'n!" came a yell

I turned around, and saw Jill Palmer standing behind me. She was sort of my girlfriend, and the daughter of The Atom.

"Hey Jill," I said

"Ib'n, are you crazy?" Jill asked

"Yeah, I guess," I shrugged

"Here," Jill slipped off her wrist gauntlets, "take my Atom-guns, at least."

"I don't use those," I said, turning her down

****

I walked to the center of the court, and the electronic force field went up around us, to protect the crowd. A countdown began until the beginning of the fight; the Justice Jerks were miming various fighting positions towards me.

"Attention students!" Coach Saunders yelled, "Begin fighting, in five, four three two one…"

A loud buzzer went off, and I stood there, ready to fight. Connor walked towards me slowly, building up suspense.

"Hey, Ib'n, I'll give you a free punch," Connor said, grinning

"OK."

I shot my fist out right at Connor's face, knocking him to the ground. The students stopped jeering; this was a shocker: the suicidal son-of-the-bat just took down the boy of steel.

****

Coach Saunders leapt from the bleachers right to me. He was the only one who was glad I had won.

"Ib'n, that's the best punch I've ever seen," he said, "How did you take down…?"

Suddenly, Saunders noticed the green glow coming from my jacket pocket. He reached inside, and took out the chunk of kryptonite I had been carrying.

"Ib'n, go to the principal's office," Saunders ordered

To be continued…


	2. Chapter 2

Batman and Son

Chapter Two

I walked into Principal Stewart's office, seeing him recharge his lantern. I wasn't looking forward to this; Principal John Stewart was a Green Lantern, a former Marine, and one of my Dad's oldest friends. To make matters worse, he was Rex Stewart's father.

"Ah, Ib'n Al Xuffasch," Stewart said, "Please, sit down."

I did as he said, and Stewart finished recharging his lantern.

"I heard about what happened," Stewart said, "Coach Saunders tells me that you were carrying kryptonite in gym. Is that true?"

"Yes sir," I replied, "But I have a good reason."

"OK…tell me."

"Sir, Connor Kent may seem nice, but he's been picking on me ever since I got here, just because I don't have powers."

"I see, but why didn't you go to a teacher, or come to me?"

"I tried to talk to a few teachers, but they never believe me because of who his dad is. After that I just gave up."

"Right…Ib'n, in most cases, something like this is grounds for expulsion. But in light of certain evidence, I'm lowering it to suspension until after winter break. Go clean out your locker, and go home."

"OK…"

"Oh, and Ib'n, I'll take that kryptonite."

I handed it to Principal Stewart.

"Could you get it back to my dad?" I asked, "I sort of took it from his vault…"

Cleaning out my locker didn't take long, I just shoved my books into my bag, and walked to the door.

"Ib'n!" Jill was running to me, "Ib'n, I heard what happened."

"Yeah," I slung my backpack over my shoulder, "I'll bet you're glad I didn't take your guns now?"

"Did you get expelled?" Jill asked

"No, just suspended."

"Can I still come round your house?"

"Of course. If I'd gotten arrested for armed robbery, Dad would still let me have people over."

I left school, and drove my car back to the manor; Dad let me use his cars whenever he was gone, and today I was using his Porsche. I pulled up to the main house, and got out. Alfred was standing by the door, waiting for me.

"Hi Alfred," I said

"Hello Master Ib'n," he said, "Principal Stewart just phoned me about what happened."

"Alfred, I was only carrying it for self defense!"

"I understand, Master Ib'n," Alfred continued, "I'll talk to Superman later."

"Thanks Alfred."

Alfred was the only thing I had in the way of an actual father; Alfred taught me how to ride a bike, he helped me with my homework, and he was always there for me when I came home after a horrible day at school. Dad never really wanted to spend time with me, if it wasn't a Justice League mission, then it was business, and if it wasn't that then it was just that he was too tired from doing missions or business.

I walked up the stairs and into my room, throwing my bag on the ground. My room was covered with posters from old films, which was sort of a hobby of mine. I sat down at my desk, and opened up my laptop. As soon as it had booted up, I checked my e-mail and Facebook. After a few minutes of updating myself, I got up, and threw on my leather jacket. I walked back downstairs.

"I'm going out, Alfred," I said

"Out, Master Ib'n?"

"Yeah. I just really need to clear my head."

"I see. Do you need any money?"

I checked my wallet.

"No, I'm good," I replied, "See yah."

"Hold it…" came a growl

I turned around, and saw that the secret entrance to the Batcave, behind a grandfather clock, was open. Dad stood there, in his Bat-suit, but with the hood down. His bat-suit was the same one he had worn in his early Justice League days, but he had a metal frame to support his chest and arms (he was recovering from a nasty encounter with Bane a few weeks back).

"Ib'n, I just got a call from Principal Stewart," Dad growled, "Apparently, you took a chunk of weapons-grade kryptonite to school."

"I just wanted Connor Kent to leave me alone," I replied

"So you decided to kill him?"

"I just punched him in the nose!"

"What if you lost it? What if it fell into the hands of the Joker, or of Lex Luthor? What would you have done then?"

"I kept it in my pocket the whole time, in a sheet of lead paper…"

"And another thing, what gives you the right to steal items from my utility belt? If Superman goes rogue…"

"Oh, so you don't even care about what happens to me?" I asked, "I can't borrow your spare kryptonite rock to defend myself against someone who could blow me up with heat vision?"

"I'm more concerned about six billion lives being wiped out if Starro the Conqueror resurfaces."

"So you don't care about your own son?"

"You want the truth?" Dad growled, "You were never my son, you were just the accident I got stuck with!"

"Enough!" Alfred smashed a Ming vase on the ground, "I will not stand for this!"

"Alfred…" Dad began

"Sir, we need to have a talk. Master Ib'n, go out and have a good time. I'll call you when you can come home…"


	3. Chapter 3

In Batman Shadow

Chapter Three

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I took the Jeep to downtown Gotham, and kept walking around, just looking for a place to go. I thought of going to a bar Booster Gold told me about, where they didn't ask for ID as long as you looked old enough. Then again, I don't exactly look twenty-one. I spent about ten minutes in a bookstore, browsing through some old pulp novels, until the chick behind the counter started hassling me, asking if I was Bruce Wayne's son. She was some lefty college student, definitely a pot-smoker, thinking that Bruce Wayne was killing the planet.

"And what's the deal with that botanist he had arrested for breaking into his factory?" the girl asked, "Dr. Isley was just trying to save a rare plant species!"

"I don't know!" I groaned, "Look , I just wanted to know, how much for this Doc Savage book?"

"Four twenty-five,"

"Thank you!"

I handed her a five, told her to keep the change, and walked out. I found a nice place to read, right in Blackhawk Memorial Park, under a statue of one of their planes. I read the book for about fifteen minutes (not a bad read, Doc and his Fabulous Five went up against the Martians from 'War of the Worlds'), and then left the park. I decided to go see if anything was playing at the movies. I walked all the way to the Gotham Multiplex, and checked it out; there was some romantic comedy about a divorced couple during the Thanagarian invasion, a remake of The Mark of Zorro, and some film about a murdered acrobat, Boston Brand. I decided I'd give The Mark of Zorro a try, but then something came up. I heard a woman scream, and I ran to see where it was coming from. Right in an alley, there was a woman being mugged. I groaned and ran to help her.

"Hey!"

I yelled out something hoping that the mugger would be afraid and run away. I wasn't so lucky. The guy grabbed the woman's purse with one big tug, and tried to hit me. I grabbed his fist, and gave it a strong tug, dislocating his shoulder. One quick kick to the face, and he was down.

"Thank you," the woman began

"Whatever,"

"Hey, aren't you Bruce Wayne's…"

Suddenly, the guy had gotten back up, and he hit me in the back of the neck. I fell to the ground, and yelped in pain. The guy grabbed the woman's purse from the ground, and ran off.

"Get back here!" I growled

I picked up a nearby trash can, and threw it in the guy's direction. It hit him right on the head, but it just annoyed him, it didn't do any damage. The guy lashed at me with a knife, and got me right on the arm.

"Ah!" I groaned

The guy was about to get me a lot worse, when suddenly, something hit him from behind, and he collapsed. Behind him was Victoria Sage, who was hanging upside down from a fire escape holding her mom's crossbow.

"Hey Ib'n," she said, "Just like your dad, huh?"

"Not exactly…"

I reached to my arm, and pulled out the knife that was still in there.

"Oh my god!" Victoria exclaimed, "Does that hurt?"

"Yeah," I groaned, "Do you have a bandage, or something?"

****

Victoria helped me up to her parent's apartment, through the window. Victoria was the daughter of Huntress and Question, two members of the Justice League. They were both at home, and saw me come in.

"Ib'n!" Mrs. Sage exclaimed

"Hi," I groaned, "Help?"

Victoria helped me down on the couch. Mr. Sage came into the room, carrying the first aid kit.

"So, Ib'n, been out on the hunt?" he asked

"Actually, I was about to go to the movies," I replied, "Then a mugger showed up."

"Ah. I wonder why you were unmasked. Did you like saving the person getting mugged?"

"Not really…"

"You didn't?" Mr. Sage looked up, a surprised look on his face

"Well, I know people say they always get a thrill from saving lives, but I just don't feel it."

"Was this your first time you did something like that?"

"I've gone out on patrol with a few of my friends, even fought a few bad guys. But the thrill never appeared, it was just like a job or something."

"Your dad is the same way," Mr. Sage said, "He thinks of it as 'the mission'."

"I know…"

****

Mr. Sage cleaned up my knife wound, and wrapped a bandage around my arm.

"That should heal in a few days," Mr. Sage said

"Thanks," I said, getting up, "I'd better be on my way."

"Not yet," Mr. Sage said, "you need to lie down for a bit."

"OK," I shrugged, getting back on the couch

****

Mr. Sage and I watched TV for a bit, a show called 'unsolved conspiracies'. It was good, but the problem was, Mr. Sage kept talking about his own theories.

"So you see," he concluded, "Most of society's problems could be solved by simply jailing a few members of the coffee market."

"Huh," I nodded, in pretend agreement, "I see what you mean. So, do you go through their trash or something?"

****

The front door of the apartment opened, and Quentin Sage walked in. He took after his father, wearing a long blue coat and speaking in the same monotone voice. His face barely moved when he talked.

"Hey Quentin," I said

"Hello Ib'n Al Xuffasch," he said, throwing his schoolbag on a chair, "I saw what you did at school. It's about time someone did something to Connor Kent."

"What did you do?" Mr. Sage asked

"I punched him in the nose," I replied

"And that hurt him?"

"I had some kryptonite with me."

"Ah…"

"Quentin, are you going to be around for dinner?"

"Afraid not, I'm investigating the CADMUS II theory, and meeting with Sore Throat. I just came home to research my notes."

"Ah…say, Quentin, do you think Ib'n might want to go with you?"

"Don't know," Quentin shrugged, "Ib'n, you want to tag along?"

"Uh…OK, that sounds cool."

****

Mr. Sage leant me his old mask, which made it look like I didn't have a face. It scared me at first, but I got used to it. Quentin also put his mask on, which was like Mr. Sage's but it was more metallic.

"Hey Quentin, what do I call you when we go out?" I asked

"The Answer," Quentin replied, changing coats, "Do you have a name picked out?"

"Uh…no."

"Well then for now I'll just call you…Face-Man."

"Tha's cool."

****

The Answer and I changed jackets and left the house, going on the rooftops. Quentin was pretty athletic; he was on the track team at school. I wasn't really into sports, but I did have my inborn athleticism. I followed him, climbing several rooftops and eventually to a hotel parking lot. There, we stopped.

"Face-Man, you OK?" The Answer asked

"Fine," I replied, leaning against a post, "What do we do now?"

"We wait for my source." The Answer explained, "It's just a simple information collection."

"Hey, Answer!" someone with a throaty voice yelled

The two of us turned to the other end of the parking lot, showing a guy covered by the shadows.

"Hello, Sore Throat," Answer said softly

"I got that stuff you asked for!"

"Excellent. I will be right over there."

****

Answer and I walked up to Sore Throat, but he stopped us.

"You can't see my face!" he warned, "If you see it, even by accident, then the deal is off!"

"Fine, then give me the file, and I'll be off,"

"OK. It's in that car over there."

Answer smashed the car window open, and took a file out. He scrolled through it, and nodded.

"All in order," Answer nodded, "Standard price?"

"Uh huh," Sore Throat said

Answer lifted up his mask ever so slightly, and plucked a fifty dollar bill from beneath it. He handed it to Sore Throat.

"Thank you,"

Suddenly, Sore Throat's hands came out of his pockets, revealing two guns.

"He's over here!" Sore Throat yelled

****

Already, I could hear the pounding of feet in combat boots coming our way. The Answer grabbed me, and threw me right into Sore Throat, which was annoying for two reasons: one, Sore Throat was carrying two rusty pistols that could go off accidentally very easily, and two, we were right against the edge of the parking lot, on the top floor; I bashed into Sore Throat, and the two of us fell off, heading towards the ground. I felt the wind rushing past me, and I saw all the lights in adjacent building shoot up, or so it seemed. I felt myself getting closer to the ground.

"Answer, you stupid motherf…!" I began

Suddenly, I realized I wasn't landing on the ground; I had just fallen into the pool that was owned by the same hotel that owned the parking lot. Landing in it was strange; it felt like taking a five minute cold shower in three seconds. It knocked me out of the death-trip I was in, and immediately, I got out, gasping for breath.

"I'll be right down!" The Answer yelled

I heard a few gunshots and a few punches, and suddenly, The Answer leapt off the top of the building, and dived right into the pool. He resurfaced slowly, in an almost unnatural way.

"Sorry about that, Face-Man," Answer said, "But I didn't have time to explain."

"It's OK," I groaned, getting out of the pool, "Where do we go now?"

"This was an almost fruitless mission," The Answer climbed out of the pool, and shook himself off, "So, we go back home. And fast, we're under fire."

****

The Answer and I ran across several rooftops, a different route from the first time. I almost slid to my death one time, thanks to very poor roofing, but The Answer caught me. Soon, we got back to Mr. and Mrs. Sage's apartment, on the rooftop.

"OK, Face-Man, very important thing," The Answer said, "You know how when you go hiking, you don't take your shoes off till the end? The same thing applies to masks. This is when we take them off."

The Answer sprayed his face with the aerosol can Mr. Sage had given us. His metallic mask slid right off his face, and his hair color turned from black to auburn. I did the same, spraying myself with it. I was scared for a moment, because it felt like my skin was sliding off.

"Don't try and pull it off!" warned Quentin, "I'll do it, you might accidentally tear your skin."

Quentin reached forward, and gently peeled my mask off.

"Thanks," I breathed

"Don't mention it."

****

I climbed into the Sage's apartment through a hidden skylight, and into Quentin's room. He sat down on his desk, and began typing information in his laptop.

"I'm never trusting Sore Throat again," Sage said, "In fact, I don't think I can rely on any information that he's given me."

"So…CADMUS II, what's that?" I asked

"Originally CADMUS was an anti-Justice League plan, should the League ever go rogue," Quentin explained, "They've been dormant for years, but I suspected that the recent boost in metahuman activity sparked interest in the group."

Quentin typed a command into his computer. A picture appeared on the screen, showing a middle-aged black woman in a light blue business suit.

"I know her!" I said, "I think I met her at one of my Dad's parties. Allana…Adama…Amanda! Amanda Waller! She knew that Dad was…you know."

"All top CADMUS employees knew that."

****

There was a knock at the door, and Mrs. Sage came in, carrying two plates.

"I thought you two might like some pizza," she said, "I made it myself."

I took the plate from her, and took a bite out of this.

"Wow! This is really good pizza!"

"I learned more than a few assassination techniques during my time in Sicily," Mrs. Sage said

I wanted to finish my pizza, but then my phone bleeped. Alfred had texted me, saying I could come home now.

"Ah jeez, Mrs. Sage, I have to go," I said, "Quentin, thanks for letting me come with you."

"Any time."

****

I walked into the living room, where Mr. Sage was eating pizza and watching the news.

"Mr. Sage, here's your mask," I said

"Keep it," Mr. Sage said, "You might need it one day."

"Uh…OK, thanks."

****

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To Be Continued…


	4. Chapter 4

In Batman's Shadow

Chapter Four

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I drove back home in the Jeep, and walked up to the Manor. Alfred was inside, sweeping up the vase.

"Hi Alfred," I said

"Hello Master Ib'n," Alfred replied, "Your father is expecting you in the Batcave."

"Do I have to go?" I asked

"Yes," Alfred returned to his sweeping

I walked to the grandfather clock, and turned the numbers to 10:47 PM, the exact time my grandparents were murdered. The clock slid open, and I walked down the stairs to the cave.

"Hello, Ib'n," Dad said

I saw Dad was sitting in front of his giant computer, wearing his bat-suit with the hood down.

"Hi Dad," I said

"Alfred and I had a long talk while you were gone. It's about time I told you some things. Walk with me."

****

Dad and I got up, and he showed me around the cave; there was nothing there I hadn't seen before, Dad's trophies, costumes and weapons of villains he had fought, and souvenirs from his adventures, but then he took me to a very dark part of the cave I had never gone to before. There was a large metal door in one of the cave walls. Dad placed his hand on the door knob, and I heard the sound of several bolts unlocking. We then walked through the door, which led to a spiral staircase, going down very deep. It took Dad and I about five minutes to walk down.

"Dad, where are we going?" I asked

"You'll see."

****

Dad pressed a button on his belt, and lights turned on, revealing a large green lake. It was bubbling, as if it was boiling, and I could smell burning.

"Son, this is a Lazarus pit," Dad explained, "One of the few left on earth. It has the ability to heal anyone on the brink of death, but with the side-effect of temporary insanity."

"Did you create it?"

"No, I had a team of Wayne Foundation engineers re-route another Lazarus pit into here, so one of my enemies couldn't get it. A sinister man, an immortal eco-terrorist named Ra's Al Ghul. That man is your grandfather."

I gasped. I had heard of Ra's Al Ghul (everyone at Jonah Hex High School had) but knowing I was related to him…

"You see, Ra's daughter Talia and I were married, very briefly."

"Did Ra's Al Ghul know?" I asked

"Of course. He performed the ceremony. We gave it a shot, but we realized that with myself being The Batman, and her being the head of the League of Shadows, our son would be in too much danger."

"So Talia is my mother?" I asked

"Yes. The marriage broke up, and Talia offered to take you, said she'd never ask me for anything again. But I knew the League of Shadows was no place for a child, and I kept you."

****

This conversation really changed the way I thought about Dad. The idea that he had chosen to keep me, when he could have easily let Talia take me, showed that he did care.

"I chose not to tell you about her because of her involvement with a criminal organization," Dad explained, "She was a cog in several of her father's schemes, and I didn't want you hating her."

"I understand, Dad."

"I tried to get her to give up her life of crime, I really did try, but her father's word was final."

"I see…Dad, I've always wondered about my name. Ib'n Al Xuffasch, kids used to tease me about it, joking that I was the son of Ra's Al Ghul. Is there any…"

"Ra's Al Ghul means 'head of the demon'. Ib'n Al Xuffasch means 'son of the bat'. Aside from the language and the common preposition, they're nothing alike."

"Good to know."

****

Dad and I walked back to the main area of the Batcave. Dad sat down at his computer, and began typing.

"Is it cool if I go out again?" I asked

"Sure," Dad says, "I have to work on the CADMUS II investigation. Sore Throat said that he had information…"

"Sore Throat's game is entrapment," I replied, "He tried to shoot Quentin…"

"I know. I'll deal with him. And Ib'n…"

I turned around, and Dad tossed me a small package. I opened it up, and a batarang was inside.

"Just in case you ever run into any more trouble tonight."

****

I walked up the steps, and made sure no one was in the living room. It was just Jill Palmer and Alfred. I opened the clock, and stepped out.

"Hey Jill," I said

"Hi Ib'n," Jill replied

"Is everything alright, Master Ib'n?" Alfred asked

"Fine," I replied, pocketing the batarang, "Jill, you want to go down to the docks, watch the boats come in?"

"OK."

"Cool. Jeep or Porsche?"

****

We took the Jeep, and drove down to Gotham's docks. We walked along the shipyards, waiting for the delivery submarine from Atlantis to arrive; it only came once a month, but when it did, it was amazing. As we strolled down the pier, we felt a slight tremor, and saw the water bubbling. Suddenly, a ship resembling an armored narwhal ascended to the surface, and the side panel opened, revealing six burly Atlantians, carrying mail sacks and packages. They loaded them all up into one big mail truck, and then departed.

"That's always awesome to watch," I said

"I know. Ib'n, have you ever been to Atlantis? Because the last time I was there…"

I held up my hand, signaling for Jill to stop talking.

"Jill, those men are trying to rob the truck!" I whispered

"Oh!" Jill held up her wrist-gun, "I'll get them."

"No, don't," I said, "I'll get them."

"Should we mask?" Jill asked

"Definitely."

I reached into my jacket, and took out Mr. Sage's mask. I placed it on my face, and the chemicals in my skin triggered the adhesion. As soon as I was masked, I took out my Batarang. Jill reached under her shirt, and pulled up her cowl over her face, leaving only her mouth and eyes exposed.

"Stay here," I ordered

****

I leapt down to the docks, right by the two guys who were about to rob the truck.

"Hey!" I yelled

The guys turned to me, and gasped.

"It's the Question!" one exclaimed

I saw the fear wearing off, and they reached for their guns. Before they could shoot, I held up my batarang, which froze them stiff.

"It ain't the Question! It's the bat!"

I threw the batarang, knocked their guns out of their hands, and caught it; I had used Batarangs before, when Dad was away; it was one of the many things I naturally inherited from him.

"This time it's not aimed at your hands!" I warned

This didn't work as I think it did; the guys approached me in combat, and I held up my fists. One guy punched me, knocking me off the pier, and into the water. I was under for several seconds, and while I was under, I saw several bright lights flashing from above, and then heard a loud splash. I got up, and a strong arm helped me out of the water. I got up on the pier, soaking wet.

"You OK kid?" came a deep voice

I rubbed the water out of my eyes, and saw it was Mr. Dugan, the wrestling coach/engineering teacher. He was quite big, built like a linebacker. He used to be a crime-fighter S.T.R.I.P.E., using an armored battle suit. I think he did something before that, but he never talked about it.

"Yes, Mr. Dugan," I replied

"I got your boomerang," he handed me my batarang

"Thanks, sir," I said

Mr. Dugan leaned in closer.

"Ib'n Al Xuffasch, is that you?" he whispered

"Yes, sir," I replied, "How could you tell?"

"You're the only teenager with that much respect," Mr. Dugan said, "I've got some spare clothes in my car, if you want to get something dry on."

"That'd be great."

****

Mr. Dugan led me to his car, with Jill following us.

"Almost there, kid," Mr. Dugan said, "It's that black car with the whitewall tires."

Mr. Dugan's car turned out to be a '57 Chevy, with the words 'Star Rocket Racer' written on the passenger door. The boot opened by remote, and I started looking inside for clothes.

"That would look good on you," Jill said, pointing to a light blue shirt

"Yeah…"

I took the shirt, and a pair of khaki trousers.

"I think these will fit me," I said, "Mr. Dugan, do you have a belt I could borrow?"

"Yeah, it's under the trench coat."

I took out the belt (It was weird, there were patches of its original red leather stuck to its now brown leather, and the buckle was circular), and walked into the car to change. I came out wearing the light blue shirt, the khaki trousers, and the belt. I had my wet clothes rolled up in a towel.

"Be careful with the belt, Ib'n," Mr. Dugan said, "It belonged to a friend of mine."

"I'll get it back to you as soon as I can," I said

"Nah, it's cool, you keep it."

****

Jill and I walked back to my car.

"Mr. Dugan sure is nice," Jill said

"Yeah, he's one of the few teachers who actually try to help his students," I replied

"Do you want to go to Ted's Pizza?" Jill asked

"Yeah, sure," I said, "I'd really like to go somewhere with heating."


	5. Chapter 5

In Batman's Shadow

Chapter Five

****

****

I drove the car down to a pizza restaurant where a lot of people from school hung out. I walked inside, and all eyes turned to me. Nervous eyes.

"Ib'n, you might want not want to come in here tonight," Hal Rayner warned

"Why not?" I asked

I heard the sound of a toilet flushing, and then saw Connor Kent walking out of the bathroom. He looked up at me, and our eyes crossed.

"Ib'n Al Xuffasch…" he growled

"Connor Kent…" I said, sitting down at a table, "How's your nose?"

"Get out of here," Connor ordered, "Or I'll shoot you with my heat vision."

"You get out of here," I replied

"Or what? Principal Stewart took your kryptonite."

I held up Dad's lead-lined belt compartment, and slowly reached to the open switch.

"Don't you dare!" Connor growled

I could see it in his eyes; he was planning to shoot towards me at super-speed. I pressed the button to open the compartment, and just in time, because Connor had just started to shoot towards me. Halfway towards me, he stopped, and screeched to a halt. He started to run away from me, terrified.

"Nice!" Hal said

"Thank you," I said, "Now can I get some service around here?"

****

We had almost finished our pizza, when suddenly, the ground began shaking. Ted, the owner of the restaurant, stuck his head out from the kitchen.

"Hey, Michael, turn the TV to channel six," he ordered

A blonde guy wearing orange sunglasses reached up to the TV, and switched it to the news.

"This is Jonathan Mathias reporting for Gotham News. A plot believed to be linked to Dexter Luthor is underway; giant silver beetles are attacking Gotham…"

All of a sudden, everyone got up, and ran outside. Jill and I followed them. Out in the street, there was a rather large robotic beetle, knocking down a jewelry store. Small metal arms came out of it, and began to pick up jewels and rings. A few students had already changed into their alter-egos, and were heading towards the beetle.

"OK, this is too coincidental," I said to Jill, "Appearing this close to a super-teen hangout…"

"You're being paranoid…" Jill was discreetly activating her arm bands, "I'm going to help them. Don't wait up for me."

****

Jill walked into an alley, and came back out six inches tall, and in a red costume. Two other heroes, Starwoman and Hour-Boy were already there. Starwoman hadn't changed much from her days as Stargirl, carrying the Cosmic Rod and wearing the same costume. Hour-Boy used his father's pills, the ones that gave him an hour of super strength and super speed. He leapt up at the beetle, and was about to punch it in, when a small gun fired a dart at his neck. He fell to the ground, his powers used up.

"What's happened?"

"Is he OK?"

"Did his pills run out?"

Starwoman attempted to use her cosmic staff on the beetle, but then the beetle fired a force field beam at her staff, separating her from it. Without it, she was almost useless, and she fell right next to Hour-Boy. A similar thing happened to Jill; the beetle blew her away with a compressed air blast, and then shot her belt with a bullet, leaving her at six inches tall and unable to change her size. She-Creeper, Wildcat Jr., and even Lieutenant Atom were incapacitated. Soon, I realized what was going on; the beetle wasn't interested in any jewelry, it just wanted to analyze weaknesses. I was interrupted by my train of thought when my phone rang.

"Hello?" I answered

"Ib'n, it's Quentin. Are you downtown?"

"Yeah, I'm right in front of that silver beetle!"

"What's the situation?"

"It's getting ready to leave; no one's fighting it anymore."

"OK, Ib'n, I need you to stall it however you can, until Dad and I get down here."

"What? How am I supposed to do that?"

"Can you just try? This might crack the Cadmus II case wide open."

"OK, I'll try."

****

I masked up, and ran up to the beetle.

"Beetle!" I yelled

I threw a stone right at one of its legs, and it turned round. For a moment, it stared right at me, and then suddenly, a laser scanned me. I saw it was aiming at my mask, at my belt, and at the batarang I had in my jacket. Several destructive tools came out of it, but the beetle was too confused to decide which one I was associated with. Then it decided on the rocket launcher.

"Use the belt!" someone groaned

I turned round, and saw Starwoman reaching towards me.

"The belt!" she yelled, "You turn it on by twisting the buckle!"

I did what she said, and to my surprise, I shot up into the air, several feet above the beetle. In a matter of seconds, I figured out that control of the belt was based on sheer willpower, so it would take me to wherever I wanted. I repressed the words 'Africa' and 'Mars' in my mind, and shot down to the beetle, slicing one of its legs off. It fell to the ground, defeated.

****

I looked around me, seeing about twenty defeated heroes, most of them needing medical attention. I flew down to the one who looked like they needed the most help, Red Arrow. He had been shot with one of his own arrows.

"Ollie, it's Ib'n," I said, "Can you hear me?"

"Help…" he groaned

I observed him, and saw that his wound was in his lower chest. I tore open his red vest, and observed it.

"Ollie, you have to tell me. What is the standard length of your arrows?"

"Arrow…"

I didn't know what to do; if I didn't act fast, then Ollie could die. What would Dad do…?

"Red Arrow!" I barked

Ollie's eyes shot open.

"Now listen to me, you son-of-a-communist," I growled, "How long are your arrows?"

"One point seventy five feet!" he said

"Good…"

I took out a tape measure from my pocket (I carry a lot of weird things with me), and measured how much of the arrow had gone into him.

"OK, not too much…"

****

I took out my cell phone, and dialed '1' on my speed dial: Alfred.

"Hello Master Ib'n," Alfred said, "What can I do for you?"

"Alfred, I need your help. How good is your sight and medical knowledge?"

"Infallible, sir."

"Good…"

I took a picture of Ollie with my phone camera, and sent it to Alfred.

"What should I do?" I asked

You'd think Alfred would have freaked out after seeing this, but no.

"First of all, you should remove the arrow," Alfred ordered, "As far as I can tell, it's missed the major arteries, so it's safe to remove."

"OK…"

I reached down to Ollie's chest, and pulled the arrow out gently. Blood began pouring out.

"Now quickly, apply pressure to the wound."

I tore Ollie's vest, and wrapped it around the wound.

"Now sir, keep applying pressure until the medical services get there," Alfred said

"OK."

*****

She-Creeper recovered first, and helped Ollie out while I tried to help everyone else. Starwoman had broken her leg, Hour-Boy had several cuts, and Lieutenant Atom was leaking radioactive fluid. I had to borrow Steel II's gauntlet to patch the leak; I just had to place it on the leak, and it melted to cover it. The ambulances arrived soon, and just in time. Ollie's parents came to pick Ollie up, Mr. Queen insisted on treating his son himself (During his time with the league he had studied medicine). Question and Answer arrived just in time to see the beetle being lifted away by police helicopter. The ambulance crews wanted to check me out, but I was interrupted by my phone ringing.

"Hello?"

"Ib'n, it's your father."

"What do you want?"

"Come home, right now."

"What is it?"

"Just do it."

*** *

****

To be continued…


	6. Chapter 6

In Batman's Shadow

Chapter 6

Mr. Sage (as The Question) gave me a lift home. We made a quick stop through a tunnel, and Question released some of his special gas. The car came out of the tunnel green, and we were mask-less. Eventually, we got to Wayne Manor, and Mr. Sage let me out.

"Thanks for the ride!" I said

I walked up to the house, and to the Batcave. Dad and Alfred were already down there.

"Hey Dad, what's the trouble?" I asked

"Check this out," Dad said

He typed something up on the computer: CADMUS II. Several files were displayed, showing detailed files on everyone who fought the beetle. There was a new feature; it now displayed their secret identities.

"Holy smokes…" I breathed

"Those ambulance and the beetles were CADMUS II property," Dad explained, "They set the whole thing up so they could unmask the injured, but with four exceptions."

He brought up four profiles: Huntress II (Victoria Sage, but the file didn't know that), The Answer, Red Arrow, and Atom-Girl (Jill).

"And there's also…"

Dad brought up a file on someone called 'Composite-Man'.

CODENAME: Composite Man

REAL NAME: Unknown

POWERS: uses weapons and powers of other vigilantes

KNOWN CONNECTIONS: Question, Answer, Batman, the Star Spangled Kid/Starwoman

WEAKNESSES: none can be determined as of today

STATUS: possibly alive, location unknown

"Who is that guy?" I asked

Dad tapped one key; a photo of me in my faceless mask came up.

"You are Composite-Man," Dad said, "Your evening's activities have been all over the news. Haven't you seen it?"

Several files played on the computer, news reports of my night out: falling off the parking lot, fighting the guys at the docks, the beetle fight, and 'operating' on Ollie.

"Where did you get these things?" Dad asked

I shrugged.

"People sort of gave them to me," I explained, "Mr. Sage gave me the mask, you gave me the batarang, Mr. Dugan gave me the belt, but just to hold up the pants he leant me after I fell into the water…"

"I see…so, did you enjoy it?"

"It was…interesting."

Dad selected the scenes of me that had been shown on the news, and selected the one of me on the docks.

"Here's what I don't get," he said, "The way you fight, you fight faster than most ordinary humans, but it's your style, it's so basic and sloppy."

"I think it's to do with the Justice Jerks," I explained

"Who?" Dad asked

"Connor, Rex, Bart, and Drusilla," I said, "fighting fast people has given me faster reflexes."

"There's some sense to it. Ib'n, have you ever considered becoming a vigilante?"

"I think I already have."

"I mean full time, like some of your friends do."

"Yeah, sure."

"Good…"

Dad got up, and I heard the clanking of his leg braces. Steadily, he walked to his uniform vault, and opened the rather large door. I had only seen it partially open before, and was amazed at the amount of equipment that was inside.

"Anything you want from here is at your disposal," Dad said, "Except for the items in the red boxes, which are for emergencies only."

I looked in Dad's equipment boxes, and there was truly some remarkable stuff. Batarangs, smoke bombs, grapple guns, all of which were just a small part of his arsenal.

"Composite-Man will be your codename," Dad explained, "If we ever contact each other over the radio, then I'll call you Composite-Man, and I'll be Batman, got it?"

"Got it…"

Dad helped me get my equipment together, and had Alfred work on a uniform for me. I told him I didn't really want a uniform, I felt more comfortable just wearing my street clothes and a mask.

"OK, son, we've got the uniform out of the way," Dad said, "Now, it's about time I showed you a few tricks of the trade…"

Later…

I came out of the Batcave exhausted from learning Dad's fighting moves. To my surprise, there were several people in the living room: Victoria, Quentin, Oliver Queen, and Dinah Queen-Lance and Jill were also there.

"Uh…" I looked around the room, "is this an intervention or something?"

"More like a parent's evening," Dad said, walking up, "We have an urgent issue to talk about…"

Dinah Queen got up, and hugged me. Very tightly.

"Thank you for saving my son," she croaked, "If you hadn't been there, he might have…"

I was beginning to enjoy a hug from Black Canary, but then Oliver Queen got up and hugged me too.

"You saved our son's life!" he exclaimed, "How can we ever thank you?"

"Could you get off my foot?" I groaned

"Oh! Sorry."

Oliver walked to the couch, and threw on his jacket.

"We'll be going," he said, "Just popped by to say thanks, and wanted to give you this…"

Oliver handed me a set of green keys.

"You're giving me the Arrow-Car?" I exclaimed

"What? Oh, no, those are lock picks," Oliver explained, "They can open almost any conventional locks."

"Cool."

To Be continued…


	7. Chapter 7

In Batman's Shadow

Chapter Seven...

****

****

Oliver and Dinah left, leaving my friends and me alone with Dad.

"OK kids," Dad said, "I have an assignment for you."

Dad adjusted his braces so he could sit down.

"Ever since my encounter with Bane…" Dad stopped in mid sentence, and groaned, "I haven't been one hundred percent. My brain is fine, though, so I want you guys to act as my agents."

"Can we call ourselves the Agents of The Batman?" Jill asked enthusiastically

"Officially you guys will be The Outsiders. I have a mission of the utmost importance. Dexter Luthor is currently hiding out somewhere in Gotham City. I had a four hour plan to track him, but with each of you under my guidance, it will be considerably less."

****

The four of us went down to the Batcave, and Dad handed out communicators. They fit perfectly in our ears, and were almost undetectable.

"Here's how it's going to happen," Dad said, "Dexter Luthor has been sighted appearing outside the Tegan Building every Friday for the past three weeks. You will have to flush him out, which will not be as easy as it sounds. He has all his father's resources at his disposal, plus the same evil instincts."

****

I walked into the locker room to change my trousers. Alfred was in there, waiting for me.

"Master Ib'n," he said, "I know what you said about costumes, but I had to make you something special."

Alfred handed me a leather jacket; it had a few cool patches sewn on it, the American flag, the coke logo, and even Batman's symbol. I opened it up, and saw that a utility belt was sewn on the inside.

"Fully loaded, containing weapons of diverse previous ownership." Alfred said

"Awesome. Thanks Alfred."

****

I walked out of the locker room, and saw everyone else was already dressed. Victoria wore her mom's old costume, but at her father's request she wore a large T-shirt over it. Jill was…wow. She stood there, bare-legged in her blue and red leotard, her mask concealing her identity but letting her hair flow out the back. Suddenly, Dad glided in front of me, catching me off guard.

"How well can you use that belt?" he asked

"I'm pretty efficient in combat," I said, "But I won't be outrunning the Bat-Plane anytime soon."

"Sounds good. You'll fly to the Tegan building ahead of everyone else."

"OK."

****

I walked over to the Bat-Plane's exit, and opened it up. I switched on the belt, and flew up in the air. I had been to the Tegan Building before, and I thought of it clearly in my mind. Soon, I was there; I touched down on the roof, gently descending.

"Batman, I've arrived," I said, in gravelly tones

"Good. Stay there, and wait for my signal."

"Understood. Over and out."

****

Suddenly, I heard someone creep up behind me. I lifted up my batarang, and aimed it so I could see the person in the reflection. I wasn't sure at first, but I could have sworn I saw Dexter Luthor. I looked behind me, and saw the man; he was just like his father, with the exception of his hippie-length hair, standing there in his business suit holding a gun to me. He stood just close enough so I could disarm him and hang him over the building. I did just that.

"Let me go!" he yelled

I thought for a moment. Then Dexter realized what he had said.

"Not like that!" he exclaimed

"I wasn't going to!"

"Well don't!"

"I wasn't going to!"

"I know, but don't do it!"

"I wasn't, but now I'm not so sure!"

"Then don't!"

"Don't tell me what to do! I'm thinking of dropping you right now!"

*****

The two of us were locked in a mental struggle, not sure what the other was going to do. I was seriously contemplating dropping her if Dexter yelled at me again. Dexter raised his hand, like he was going to say something, and I loosened the grip on one of my fingers. I reached into my jacket, and took out a batarang from my inner jacket. I aimed it right at Dexter's head.

"Say one word," I growled

Dexter aimed the gun he had been holding right at my chest.

"You shoot me, my grip loosens," I warned

*****

Suddenly, we heard a loud kick, and the roof door opened. Answer and Huntress were there.

"Hey, Composite-Man," Answer said, "we didn't see Luthor, so we thought…"

He saw what was going on.

"Composite Man, do you want me to…" Huntress began

"Huntress, we're in the middle of something!" I said, with clenched teeth, "I'm dealing with Luthor's SMALL ego."

"My what?" Luthor growled

"Sorry, that was SMALL thinking," I said, "It makes me feel very…SMALL!"

"Are you OK?" Answer asked

"Fine, just thinking of that trip we took to…SMALLville!"

"Huh?"

"Dammit Atom-Girl! Will you get over here?" I yelled

Nothing happened.

"Do I have to do everything myself?" I groaned

I hoisted Luthor up onto the roof, and then KO'd him with a blast of gas from Scarlet Avenger's gas gun.

****

"Where is Atom-Girl?" I asked Quentin, as we tied Dexter up

"Right here," came a voice

A bright light came from Dexter's gun barrel, and Jill emerged, slowly returning to normal size.

"I was in there disabling his gun," Atom –Girl explained

"Ah…sorry I cursed."

*****

Atom-Girl, Huntress, and Answer made their way back to the Batcave, but I stayed behind to talk to Luthor. Dad was giving me instructions directly into my earpiece. I followed them to the letter, then woke Luthor up.

"Where am I?" he exclaimed, "What's going on?"

"Talk, Luthor," I growled, "What's your plan?"

"I know my rights!" Luthor replied, smugly, "And I know how it works. In exchange for information on the people who hired me, I want the plans for that belt of yours, I want ten batarangs, I want…"

"Tell him he'll get nothing and like it!" Dad said

I pulled off the blindfold that I had tied round Dexter's head. Dexter saw where he was, tied to a stone Valkyrie on top of the St. Moore's church. I tore up a piece of fabric that was in my hands, which made the same sound as splitting rope.

"Aaaah!" Dexter exclaimed

"Talk, now!" I growled

"CADMUS! CADMUS!" he yelled, "They hired me! I work for their weapons research department!"

"Good work Composite Man," Dad said, in my earpiece, "Now, asks him who he spoke to."

"Who did you talk to?" I growled

"Uh…it was a man named Hal Teleck."

"Hal Teleck?" I asked, "What does he look like?"

"He…I don't know."

"Composite Man, his adrenaline is dropping," Dad said, "Scare him some more."

I tore the piece of fabric again, and Dexter freaked.

"He was tall, dark haired, and he spoke with a Hispanic accent!" Dexter said

"So is my friend Carlos. What else can you tell me?"

"Uh…he had a scar on his face, three of them going over his eye."

"Uh huh…"

Dexter's phone rang, and I took it out of his pocket.

"Hello?" I answered it, imitating Dexter

"Hello, may I speak to Dexter?"

"He's a little…tied up right now," I said

"Well I don't care how busy he is; tell him that White Queen wants to talk to him."

White Queen…where had I heard that before?

"Composite Man, hang up now!" Dad ordered, "Get back to base!"

"Roger."

*****

I knocked Luthor out with another blast from a gas gun, and untied him. I flew back to the Batcave, making sure no one was following me.

"Dad?" I called, as I landed

"In the library."

"The what?"

"Follow the signs!"

I looked on the wall, and dusted off a metal plaque:

*****

Library

Vault

Airplane exit

*****

I followed the signs to what appeared to be a fake wall in the Batcave. I opened it up, revealing a pleasant room, resembling the Gotham Library.

"Hi son," Dad said, rifling through books, "Good work tonight."

"Thanks," I said, "I haven't seen this room before."

"It's the backup of the Bat-Computer," Dad explained, "And where I keep my information that would be too harmful in the wrong hands."

Mr. Sage shot right by me, on a ladder attached to the shelf.

"This is amazing…" he breathed, "All this information…"

"Vic, have you found anything yet?" Dad asked

"Did you know that it was the Texas Rangers that originally cancelled Star Trek?" Mr. Sage said, out of breath, "And the JD Salinger decided that the US should lose the Vietnam War? And if it wasn't for the North Georgia Boating Club, we wouldn't be…"

He collapsed on the ground.

"Is he OK?" I asked

"Conspiracy overload," Dad said, "He'll be fine in half an hour."


	8. Chapter 8

In Batman's Shadow

Chapter Eight…

****

****

The following week…

*****

Dad's back had healed enough for him to go out on patrol for one night. The two of us were in the Batmobile, driving through the streets of Gotham. The feeling of being in the Batmobile was awesome; my Dad's other cars felt hollow, like they were just disguises, masks that could easily slip off. But the Batmobile was like it was part of Dad, I could see there was a strong connection between the two. I was interrupted from my thoughts by the loud bleep of the radio.

"Yes Commissioner Bullock?" Dad said

"Metahuman gang activity downtown," Bullock said, "Bunch of powered-punks knocking off an electronics store."

"We're on our way,"

If the steering wheel was a clock, Dad just shot it forward by nine hours, and almost smacked me against the window.

*****

We got to the electronics store, and saw several street teenagers in the store, wearing strange metal belts, and using axes made of the same strange metal. Dad announced his presence by knocking down the biggest one of them with a single punch.

"It's the Bat and the Question!" yelled one guy

"It's Composite Man, you idiot!" I yelled

I threw my batarang at him, and knocked him down. One guy tried to slash me from behind; he got a face full of Scarlet Avenger gas. Dad leapt right into a crowd of them, and practically ravaged them. One guy approached me, a huge guy coated with weapons.

"I've got two axes, wrist-gauntlets, a sword, and a helm," he growled, "What have you got?"

"Training from that guy!" I pointed to Dad

I hit him in the chest, using a two-fingered pressure touch I had learned. The guy let out a loud wheeze, and fell over.

"Anyone else?" I growled

Wish I hadn't said that. Some guy hit me in the back of the neck, and I could tell he was wearing a ring. I had forgotten to switch on Booster Gold's (Originally Brainiac 5's) force field belt.

"CM! Focus!" Dad yelled

I saw that Dad was having a bit of trouble fighting the guys off. I took out Harley Quinn's deck of cards, and threw them around, slicing a few hands and resulting in the disarming of Dad's attackers.

"How long until the police get here?" I asked

"Few minutes…" Dad kicked a guy in the face, "Make sure that a few of them stay behind."

"Got it!"

I reached into my jacket, and took some seeds out. I threw them in the direction of a gang of guys, and they grew extremely fast, entangling them.

"Poison Ivy?" Dad asked

"No, mutagen vines," I replied

****

Soon, most of the guys were either knocked out or had fled, and the police had arrived. Dad and I drove away in the Batmobile.

"Have you gone up against those guys before?" I asked

"No, but I know what they were armed with. If they have what I think they have, we could be in a lot of trouble."

"I thought I recognized those weapons too; Tenth metal, right?"

"Nth metal. Some of it was left behind in the Thanagarian invasion, but I assumed most of it was confiscated or destroyed."

Dad slowed the car down to a stop.

"Ib'n, I'm going to have to go after this on my own," he said, "Can you make your own way home?"

This made me really angry. I thought Dad was treating me like an equal, like a fellow hero, instead of another in the long line of Robins. Dick Grayson (I hated that jerk) had told me about Dad doing the same to him. But then again, why should I have expected him to be any different.

"Sure, I'll use the belt," I said, repressing my anger, "See you at home."

****

I got out of the car, and waited for Dad to drive away. As soon as he did, I switched on my belt, and flew back to the electronics store. Officer Barbara Gordon was there, interviewing witnesses. I turned my jacket inside out, and switched from Question's mask to one of my Dad's disguise masks.

"Officer Gordon?" I asked, in an older-sounding voice, "I'm Drake Bradford of the FBI. I've been sent to investigate the scene."

I handed her my fake credentials. She looked over them.

"OK," she said, "You can go through."

*****

I walked inside, and looked around. I picked up an axe, and looked it over. The design was similar to something I'd seen before, but I couldn't quite remember where. Carefully, I slipped it inside my jacket, and walked to one of the members of the gang, Nick the Nose, who was being interrogated by Officer Todd.

"Excuse me officer," I said, The Nose by the collar, "FBI. I need to have a private conversation with this guy."

*****

Before Todd could stop me, I took Nick to an alley by the electronic store, and struck him across the face. He fell into a couple of trash cans.

"That's police brutality!" he groaned

"I'm not a policeman," I growled

*****

I took out the axe, and hacked it against a fence.

"Where'd you get this?" I asked

"I…I bought it at a camping supply store," Nick lied

"Yeah right. This is an Nth metal axe, used only by Thanagarian soldiers and the Hawk family. Where did you get it?"

"I'll tell you, but what's in it for me?"

"If you tell me, I'll return your axe…"

"That seems fair."

"…into your head."

"What?"

"I'll return your axe into your head."

The Nose laughed at me.

"What's that supposed to mean? You are pathetic…"

I shot towards him, and shoved his hand on a dumpster lid. I took out a knife, and started to do that stab-between-the-fingers trick. I managed to do it without as much as a small nick on his finger.

"OK, where'd you get the axe?" I yelled, "I'm going to keep doing this until you tell me what I want to know."

I calculated that I had about thirty seconds until the adrenaline wore off, and The Nose came to his senses.

"The axe!"

"OK…Bob the Broker got them from some government agency."

"Stealing from Uncle Sam…" I raised an eyebrow at him, "That's twenty years, buddy boy."

"No! No! Bob said they were giving them away! It was a study in crime, they said we could get away with two star crimes as long as we were wearing these."

He tapped on his earpiece. It was just like the one Dad had given me, only it seemed to be glowing.

"Don't try and take it out!" The Nose warned, "It's sort of glued in there."

"Uh huh…very good. Now tell me, where can I find Bob the Broker?"

*****

I flew to a warehouse downtown, and changed back to "Drake Bradford". I knocked on the door, and it opened up, revealing a pair of wizened eyes.

"Yes sir, can I help you?" Bob the Broker asked

"Name's Malone," I said, lighting up a match, and then blowing it out, "John Malone. I'm interested in buying guns."

"OK. Come on in."

The warehouse door opened, and they let me inside. Four muscular guys carrying guns were there, and Bob the Broker was sitting in between them, on a wheelchair. He was incredibly fat, and wore a suit that looked like it could be made into three parachutes.

"What can I do for you Mr. Malone?" Bob asked

"I saw some guy uptown, had these axes with 'em," I explained, "I figures, if anyone has those, Bob the Broker does."

Bob adjusted his position, almost breaking the chair. He gave me a look, as if I'd said too much.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Malone, but the condition of the axe deal was that I only sell them to a select group."

"Well do you know if any of them would be interested in selling?"

"I can get you any other kind of axe," Bob said, "Ex military, perhaps? Or something from the museum of Ancient Weapons?"

"No. It's either that axe or nothing."

Bob snapped his fingers. The four men got up, and surrounded me.

"No one wants an axe that much," Bob explained, "I figure you're up to something. FBI, Interpol, vigilante…we'll see."

I threw a gas pellet down on the ground, and quickly took down Bob the Broker's bodyguards. Then I reverted to Composite Man.

"OK, Bob the Broker," I growled, "Who sold you the axes?"

"Why should I tell you?"

****

I was holding Bob the Broker by his shirt collar, very high above the warehouse. He was very scared, and so was I; even though the belt gave me a bit of strength enhancement, Bob was extremely heavy.

"The axes, Bob!" I groaned

"Ok, it was a woman who called herself White Queen," Bob said

"Fat black woman?" I asked, "Short hair, tough demeanor?"

"No! Skinny redhead!"

"And with a Latino accent…" I muttered

"Yeah. You know her?"

"All too well…"

****

After letting Bob down (And recommending that he cut KFC out of his diet), I went to a nearby hardware store, and bought three cans of yellow paint. I then took a bus to the Base-Tower; the Base-Tower was like the Gotham version of the Metro Tower, except it hovered in the sky, kept afloat by Principal Stewart's Green Lantern ring; thanks to a post-hypnotic suggestion, part of his brain was continuously concentrating on the tower. The Base-Tower was never in the same place, but its location was always available. Once I got to the general location, I poured the paint on my clothes, making sure I covered them all, and then I smeared it on myself, every area I would expose to the public.


	9. Chapter 9

In Batman's Shadow

Chapter Nine

****

I flew up to the Base-Tower, praying that my plan would work. I decided to go as Drake Bradford/John Malone, so I wouldn't ruin Mr. Sage's mask. I had been reading Dad's files on his friends for a while, and if I had read the one on Principal Stewart right, his ring couldn't work on anything yellow. Slowly, I passed through the green energy, and I was inside. The only problem with my plan was that I couldn't stand on anything, and I'd have to keep the belt continuously running.

"Who are you?" came a yell

I turned round, and saw Rex Stewart standing behind me. The Base-Tower was also where the Stewart family lived.

"I'm Detective Harrison Deadman, Gotham City police department," I said, "They sent me to investigate a suspected Starro sighting."

"A what?"

"A Starro sighting," I said, lighting up a cigarette, "It's a giant starfish from outer space, able to take over an entire planet in one week."

"I've never heard of it," Rex growled, reaching for his mace

"No offense, buddy-boy, but there's an entire warehouse full of stuff you don't know about."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"All I'm saying is, more power to your wings means less goes to your brain."

Rex tried to take a slug at me, but I was ready for him. I took out a flashlight, and aimed it at the walls. The strong yellow energy caused it to become intangible, and I kicked Rex out (Relax, he had wings…).

*****

I floated right through to Shayera Stewart's room, and saw she was asleep.

"Shayera!" I barked

She shot up, and reached for her mace. I knocked it out of her hands with one of Harley Quinn's playing cards.

"Shayera, I need to talk to you…" I said

"Who are you?" she growled, "Get out before I call my husband."

"He won't be much help to you," I continued, "I want to know why you supplied those gang members with Thanagarian weaponry."

"What are you talking about?" Shayera asked, "The only Thanagarian technology in Gotham is my mace, and unless you go to Midway City, talk to Carter Hall…"

I took out the axe, and chopped off one of Shayera's bedposts.

"What were you saying?"

"OK, fine," Shayera got up out of bed, "I've been giving them to gang members as part of a crime study, ever since I started the CADMUS II organization."

"Why did you start it?"

"I've been working for the government ever since 2004," Shayera continued, "I started out in the Suicide Squad, so they wouldn't try me for treason. And now, I'm working on a way to eliminate the need for vigilantes and superheroes."

The door to Shayera's room opened, and Principal Stewart stepped in, wearing his Green Lantern uniform.

"John, get rid of the Detective," Shayera ordered

"OK."

He held up his arm, and created a pair of giant tongs. He tried to grab me with them, but they just went right through me.

"Yellow, remember?" I said

Principal Stewart focused his mind, and the floor beneath me disappeared. I stayed right where I was.

"How are you doing that?" he asked

I looked down at my feet, and looked back up at Principal Stewart.

"I guess I'm just…" I switched off the belt, "Aaaaaah!"

I started falling, and just in time, I switched the belt on. My feet touched the ground, and I began walking…

*****

I stepped out of the shower in the Batcave, after finally getting all the paint off.

"Master Ib'n, I've managed to get the paint off your jacket," Alfred said, "I recommend next time you try the door."

"Will do."

*****

I got dressed and walked up to my room. I started to put together all the facts, Shayera Stewart's connections to CADMUS II, her anti-crime experiments, and the Thanagarian weapons.

"Ahem."

I turned round, and saw that Dad was standing behind me, as Batman.

"Hi Dad…" I said nervously

"Back already? Do you have any leads?"

"Uh…what do you mean? I came straight home."

"Yeah right. I knew you'd go off and try and solve it. Can I look at your research?"

"Sure…"

Dad sat down in front of my computer, and read what I had typed.

"Who's Drake Bradford?" he asked

"I am," I replied

"OK…"

Dad read what I had written, and checked the facts on his Bat-top computer.

"I don't believe it," Dad said, "I knew Hawkgirl worked with the Suicide Squad, but the head of CADMUS II…"

"I don't get where she got the Thanagarian technology," I said

"Probably from CADMUS's supplies…wait, you did the yellow trick on John? Really?"

"Yep."

"That's always fun to do…"

Dad typed up something on the computer.

"Well, good work son," he said, "That explains the criminals with Thanagar weapons."

"So what are we going to do?" I asked

"We're just going to have to keep doing what we do; we may not be able to arrest them, but we can at least scare them from crimes."

"Cool…"

*****

Two weeks later…

*****

Dad and I had gone out on patrol, and ended up getting ambushed by Catwoman and Cat-Girl, daughter of the former. Dad and I were tied to a post that hung above a pit full of lions. Catwoman had taken Dad's belt; Cat-Girl had taken my belt, jacket, and deck of cards.

"Purr-fect timing," Catwoman grinned, "I had no idea that you had a new kid sidekick. I usually like them to wear tighter pants, and perhaps have a face…"

"I ain't no sidekick!" I yelled

"Really? Because the way I see it…"

I slowly turned my neck, and pulled a small capsule out of my shoulder pads.

"Hey, Catwoman, could I have a cigarette?" I asked

She frowned at me.

"Those have been illegal for five years," she said

"Yeah, and heroin has been illegal for even longer, but I still doesn't stop me from tying and shooting up the old forearm."

That brought a smile to Selena's face. She reached into her belt, and took out a cigarette case.

"Cat-Girl, give him a cigarette," Selena ordered

Cat-Girl walked up to me, her jumpsuit pants scratching as she walked. I could see that under her cat-mask she was enjoying the potential pain she would cause me. She walked up to me, and was confused, looking right into Mr. Sage's mask.

"Where does the cigarette go?" she asked

"You'll have to cut my mask off," I explained, "Do you have a knife?"

"Naturally,"

*****

Cat-Girl took out what looked like a plastic cat's paw, and a blade shot out of it. I moved the capsule I had to the front of my mouth, and spat it at Cat-Girl's face. It broke on contact, releasing liquid containing tiny magnetic particles. It pulled her to the metal in my zipper, and when she tried to push herself away, I grabbed the knife in her hands.

"No!" Catwoman exclaimed

I cut myself loose, and got Cat-Girl in a headlock. I held the knife to her mouth.

"I want my stuff back!" I ordered, "Now!"

"You don't have the guts!" Catwoman replied

"Yeah, you're right,"

I dropped the knife, and punched Cat-Girl in the face.

"But I can do that!" I said, "And…"

"OK!" Catwoman was startled, "Don't hurt her!"

*****

Catwoman gave me my stuff back, and Dad cut himself loose.

"I'm sorry," Dad apologized to Catwoman, "He's just starting out."

"What?" I exclaimed, "You're apologizing to her? Dad, she broke the law!"

"That's no excuse for hitting girls," Dad said

"I don't mind…" Cat-Girl muttered

"I'm out of here," I switched on the belt, "I'm going to go do some real crime fighting."

"Fine, I'll see you back at the cave."

******

I flew high above Gotham, listening to the police radio. The police was a lot more reliable than it used to be; Commissioner Gordon was a good cop, but he wasn't willing to go far enough for justice. Harvey Bullock was a much better commissioner, but most people thought he was crooked; actually, he was just a jerk.

"Officer in need of backup!" came a squawk, "Armored Car robbery, heading East on Hershey Street!"

Hershey Street, I thought, I can make it there in under a minute. I shot forward, and had the car and robbers in sight, when a giant green hand punched me, knocking me off course.

"What the…?" I groaned

I adjusted the belt's gyroscope, and regained my balance in time to see Principal Stewart flying towards me, creating a giant drill with his ring…


	10. Chapter 10

In Batman's Shadow

Chapter Ten

*****

Principal Stewart hovered in front of me, his eyes glowing gold. Out of his ring came a giant knife, which was about to take a stab at me.

"What are you doing?" I growled

"You're a danger to the plan," he said, in a monotonous voice, "You will be eliminated."

I took out my gas gun, and fired a blast at Principal Stewart. He blocked it with his ring, and charged towards me.

"CM to Batman!" I said, into my radio, "In urgent need of backup!"

Principal Stewart's green energy hand wrapped around me, and began to squeeze. Booster Gold's force field belt helped partially, but not enough. I could barely breathe, but I could just about move my hand inside my jacket. I took out my yellow batarang, and with a quick flick of wrist, I sent it flying into Principal Stewart's head. His concentration was broken momentarily, allowing me to distance myself from Stewart.

"Principal Stewart, you're obviously under some kind of mind control!" I yelled, "Try to remember who you are!"

"Mind control?" grinned Stewart, "You wish."

He grabbed me with the giant hand again, and I was all out of yellow objects. A razor sharp saw blade came closer to me; I could almost feel it on my neck. Then suddenly, there was a blast of yellow, and it hit Principal Stewart long enough to break his concentration again. Suddenly, Dad flew right up to Principal Stewart, wearing his jetpack. Dad began strangling Stewart.

"Stay away from my son!" Dad yelled

Dad slashed Stewart's face with a batarang, and Stewart knocked him back with a fist.

"Is that all you can make?" I yelled

Giant gaskets suddenly clamped around Dad and me. The gaskets started to squeeze, and I thought we were trapped. Then I remembered something I had read in Dad's file…

****

The gaskets disappeared, and Stewart's ring shot off his finger. I caught it, and Dad grabbed Stewart.

"What did you do?" Dad asked

"Power ring 101, Dad," I said, "The ring responds to strong willpower, and who has the most emotion right now?"

"Huh…"

Principal Stewart struggled with Dad, but without his ring, he was just an aging Marine with no imagination.

"Give me my ring! That's GL Corps property!"

I placed the ring in my jacket pocket.

"Let's take him back to the cave," Dad said, "I need to examine his brain."

******

Later…

******

Dad had Principal Stewart on a cold metal table, and was examining his mind.

"I can't find anything wrong with him," Dad deduced, "No telepathic connections, no electronic devices…"

"What's that?" I asked

I pointed to the MRI scan Dad had done of Stewart's mind; there was a small scar there.

"That's the part of his brain that controls the Base-Tower," Dad explained, "It required a small operation."

"Could that be anything?"

"Possibly…"

Dad enhanced the scar on the string.

"Who performed the operation?" I asked

"I did," Dad replied, "The league voted that I was the only one they could trust to do it."

"Really? I didn't know you could do brain surgery."

"I can do it, but most of the time, I choose not to," Dad explained, "the thing is, I know a surgery technique that could completely eliminate the criminal element, but I choose not to use it. That would be crossing the line between Justice and fascism."

"How do you know when you cross the line?" I asked

"Well, most of the time you have to rely on your own judgment, but most people don't have good judgment, so..."

Dad fished a book out of his shelf.

"I defined it,"

Dad tossed me the book.

"The Line between Fascism and Justice, by The Batman," I read the title

*****

The next week, school had started again; Dad had sent Principal Stewart to the Watchtower for further examination, so until then, Vice Principal West was in charge. I went through school how I normally did, doing well in my classes, but not really participating. When it was time for 'Training', I considered asking Alfred to bring my stuff, but then decided that I didn't want everyone else knowing my identity. Connor Kent walked into the room; as a punishment for provoking me, Superman had Connor wear a belt charged with red son radiation.

"Kryptonite." I muttered

"Shut up!" Connor groaned, "It's your fault I have to wear this stupid belt!"

"You've been picking on me all these years; you were waiting for me to use the old k-metal."

Connor tried to hit me, but Ollie stopped him, grabbing his fist.

"Why don't you back off him guy?" Ollie asked, "He's a hero, you jerk!"

Ollie twisted Connor's arm, and kicked him right into a locker.

*****

"Thanks man," I said, "But don't tell anyone it was me. I'm trying to keep my identity secret."

"Ah, gotcha," he said, winking, "Seriously man, thanks for saving my life."

"Just doing my job. How are you, by the way?"

"I was fine after a few days, but mom and dad made me stay in the hospital a whole week."

He leaned in closer to me.

"Don't worry; CADMUS doesn't know a thing."

"Awesome."

*****

During training, I allowed Roy Tyler (Hour-Boy) to beat me in a fight so I'd keep my reputation as a non-hero.

"You know, I could show you a few moves," Roy offered, "I know some that don't require super strength."

"Uh…OK," I shrugged

"First one is this," Roy said, "You place your right arm around my neck, like this, and then…"

Roy flipped my over his shoulder and I landed right on the edge of the gym mat.

"Just like that," Roy said

"Let me have a go," I said

Roy placed his arm around my neck, and I threw him right at a wall (not as hard as I could have).

"Oh!" I exclaimed, "Roy, I'm so sorry!"

"It's cool…" he groaned, holding his nose

*****

Suddenly, the lights in the gym went out, and when they came back on, the doors were barricaded shut. Connor Kent had broken out of his belt, and was hovering over the basketball hoop.

"Operation Hero Wipeout is underway," he said

This was just like what had happened to Principal Stewart: monotonous voice, and glowing red eyes. Suddenly, he fired a blast of heat directly at Bart West, almost killing him. At once, everyone started running and hiding, no one dared to fight him. Connor began setting the entire gym ablaze, planning to kill everyone inside, and I didn't have my belt, or my composite-jacket. If only I'd saved the kryptonite for after Winter break. I reached in my pockets, looking for something to fight with. A Swiss army knife, two pieces of gum, and what I thought was the prize from a cereal box. Then I realized it was Principal Stewart's ring.

"I hope it doesn't need instructions," I muttered

I slipped the ring on, and suddenly, I changed; I began glowing, and my clothes were replaced with black jeans, green leather jacket, domino mask, and a white-t with the GL Corps symbol on it. Just before Connor could slaughter Lieutenant Atom, and cause a potential nuclear disaster, I lashed out the ring, and encased Connor in an iron maiden. Quickly, I created a cell phone, and called Dad at work.

"Hello?"

"Dad, it's Ib'n!" I said, struggling to concentrate, "The same thing that happened to Principal Stewart is happening to Connor Kent!"

"Don't you have any equipment?"

"I'm using Principal Stewart's Green Lantern ring," I explained, "But I can't…"

"You have a Green Lantern ring, and you're calling me for help?" Dad asked

"Well I…"

"Ib'n, get some perspective."

*****

Dad was right; why was I complaining to him. Then Connor Kent punched right through the iron maiden. He blasted his heat vision at me, but I created a giant shield to block it. I started to think, what the deadliest weapon I could think of was. I began thinking of the monster movies Alfred and I enjoyed watching; out of the ring came a mild-mannered English gentleman.

"Is that all you can do?" Drusilla Prince sneered

Suddenly, the ring created some clouds in the sky, and they parted, revealing the moon. The mild-mannered gentleman suddenly started changing, tearing his clothes and growing hair. He was no longer mild-mannered, he was the Wolfman. He leapt up in the air, and started clawing at Connor.

"Everyone get out of here!" I ordered, "I'll hold him off!"

I used my ring to knock down the doors, and form a giant arrow pointing to the exits. As soon as the gym was cleared, I created some more monsters: Frankenstein, Dracula, and the Invisible Man. Connor couldn't match the three of them. Frankenstein knocked him down, and pounded him. Dracula tore at his throat with fangs, and the Invisible Man…well, he didn't really do anything, but it was pretty cool seeing him unwrap his bandages and having nothing under there.

"Get off!" Connor yelled

He punched Frankenstein, and tore the Invisible Man in half.

"Don't mess with my monsters!" I warned

*****

I thought up a new ring creation: Superman. He was the only man Connor ever obeyed.

"No wait, I can do better than that," I said

Superman changed to Bizarro.

"Hello! Me love you so much, me want to hit you with car!" Bizarro said

He punched Connor with incredibly force, sending him flying into the gym walls, and was about to smash him with a giant anvil, when I realized I was just blindly smashing at him. I was using Connor Kent's tactics, when I should have been using Dad's.

"OK, think," I muttered, "Come on Ib'n, you've read his file; what are his weaknesses? I don't have any kryptonite, Doomsday isn't around…sunlight! That's it!"

I lifted up my ring, and grabbed the bleachers, forcing them over the windows and doors. I threw green energy stones at the lights, and soon, it was completely dark. I then lit the room with green energy lamps, which meant I could see. Connor shot towards me, and I dropped a green-energy bus on him. After pushing him to the limits, Connor started to lose his strength.

"You were never much in the smarts department," I said, punching him with a giant green boxing glove, "And at our age, smarts count."

I finished pounding him, and saw that his powers had run out.

"Vice Principal West?" I spoke into my cell phone, "I've managed to subdue Connor Kent. Get someone in here, with kryptonite."

"Roger that."

*****

I slipped off the ring, and soon, Vice Principal West came in, holding the Kryptonite.

"What happened here?" West asked

"That happened," I said, pointing to Connor's glowing red eyes

"Aw! Not again!" groaned West, "The same thing's been happening all over school!"

"To powered student, alien kids?" I guessed

"Yes…" Wally nodded, "How did you…?"

"I need to see their medical records, immediately!" I said

*****

West and I looked through the database; all the students who had been under mind control were the ones who had been examined by the CADMUS II ambulances.

"Does your dad know about this?" West asked

"Yeah…same thing happened to Principal Stewart. We'll look into this."


	11. Chapter 11

In Batman's Shadow

Chapter Eleven

*****

Later that night, I was out on a solo patrol. Dad's back had been acting up again, and he decided to sit this one out. I floated lazily over Gotham in a trance-like state, waiting for a crime report to interrupt me. The city was pretty peaceful from above, which was very deceptive. It was like the architects planned it, so when people flew in by plane, they'd think they were going somewhere nice, instead of a city ridden with crime and corruption.

"Ib'n, report," Dad ordered

That was it; it shook me out of the trance I was comfortably in, and I almost lost control of the belt.

"Uh…slight weapons malfunction," I said, "but uh... everything's perfectly all right now. I'm fine. I'm fine here now, thank you. How are you?"

"I'm getting some weird signals from the International Hall of Friendship," Dad said, "You want to check it out?"

"On my way…"

****

I swerved sharply to the right, and headed to the International Hall of Friendship. It was a lot less friendly than it sounded; it was basically the UN, but with more yelling.

"Dad, I'm here," I said, "What am I looking for?"

"It's a large object, it should be directly above the building."

"I…hold on, I'll go in closer."

****

I slowly moved towards to the International Hall of Friendship, and saw that there was a slight blur in the skies.

"Dad, I'm seeing something strange," I said, "It's almost as if there's a body of water floating over it. It's see through, but not exactly see through."

"Throw something at it," Dad ordered

"What?"

"Anything!"

I fished out a quarter from my jacket, and threw it in the direction of the blur. Suddenly, waves erupted across it, revealing a gargantuan battleship. I recognized it from a terrifying film we saw in Social Studies.

"Dad! Dad!" I yelled

"What is it?" he asked

"Th…th…th…"

"Spit it out!"

"Thanagarians!"

I heard Dad jump up in his chair.

"Are they hostile?" he asked

"I don't know! Dad, can I get out of here? I'm really scared!"

"Son, let me tell you what I used to do when I got scared."

Dad told me, and I did it.

"That feels better," I breathed a sigh of relief

"Good. Now keep your distance from the ship. I'll call the armed forces."

****

Suddenly, the craft ripped open, revealing hundreds of Thanagarian Hawk-Soldiers. They flew out of there like a combination of a herd of bulls and an avalanche. Just in time, I turned on Booster Gold's belt, right before one Hawk-Soldier crashed into me. Quickly, I shot away from them.

"Dad! Hawk soldiers!" I yelled

"Get out of there!" Dad ordered

I shot into the sky, trying to out-fly the Thanagarians. If I could just get them out of sight for a minute, I could change into one of my many alter egos, and be ignored. If I remembered my history, during the occupation of earth, the Thanagarians rounded up the Justice League members and imprisoned them.

"This is the voice of the Thanagarian authority!" the Hawk-man yelled, "We order you to surrender!"

I suddenly stopped, and my fist collided with his face, knocking off his helmet.

"Get off my planet!" I yelled

I grabbed him by his Nth Metal armor while he was still in a daze, and swung him around, sending him flying into several other soldiers.

*****

Later…

*****

I had gotten caught up in a horrendous fight; I had broken three fingers, and was running for cover, along with Answer. He had been using some slightly unethical tactics, ramming the Hawk-Soldiers with his car, but I'm not complaining.

"This way!" I groaned, waving to a back door

I used Green Arrow's lock picks on the door, and we stumbled inside. We were in some kind of clothing store, but we didn't really care; we were just relieved to be away from the Thanagarians.

"Anyone in here?" I asked

Suddenly, an arrow came flying in my direction.

"Victoria!" Answer groaned

Huntress II stepped out from behind a rack of dresses, and put down her crossbow.

"Sorry!" she said

"It's cool," I replied, "Just you?"

Atom Girl and Red Arrow came out from their hiding place.

"You too?" I asked

"We lasted longer than everyone else," Atom Girl explained, "The Thanagarians knew their weaknesses."

"So does CADMUS II," I said, "Dime to a dollar they're working together."

*****

Suddenly, there was a bright light beaming through the store.

"This is the voice of the Thanagarian Authority!" came a voice over the loudspeaker, "We own your planet. We own your resources, your diamonds, your oil, your nuclear power. We own your people. We own your Justice League. Those who dare oppose us will be put to death."

"What are we going to do?" Ollie asked

"We'll head to the Batcave," I decided, "We'll be safe there."

"But how can we get past the Thanagarians?" Huntress II asked, "They'll be hunting us down!"

"No, they're hunting the outsiders," I said, "We just need to change our clothes, go back to our civilian identities."

"Got it," Answer said

******

The five of us changed into some of the clothes in the store.

"Aren't you glad we decided not to hide in Victoria's Secret?" I said to Answer

"Very."

Atom Girl, Huntress, and Red Arrow walked out of the dressing rooms, wearing civilian clothes, as well as additional disguises, glasses and hats, that kind of stuff.

"Aren't you two changing?" Jill asked

"Oh, yeah,"

Answer and I used Mr. Sage's gas, and our masks slid off. We then rolled them up, and hid them in our belt compartments.

"That's all you're going to do?" Jill asked

"I know it seems a bit much, but it'll do," Quentin said

*****

The gang started walking to the exits.

"Wait, where are you going?" I asked

"Wayne Manor…?" Jill said

"We can't go all together," I said, "That's too suspicious. Victoria, you and Jill in one group, Quentin, you take Ollie. Don't talk to anyone unless they talk to you."

"What about you?" Victoria asked

"I'll go on my own."

"But what if you run into trouble?"

"Then I'll get out of it."

*****

We left separately; I stayed behind for a moment to leave some money for the clothes, and a counter that I had broken into. I walked out, and saw that Thanagarian soldiers were already patrolling the streets.

"You!" one soldier yelled

"Yes sir?" I asked

"Where are you going?" he asked

"Home," I replied

"I didn't ask for your life story. Move along!"


	12. Chapter 12

In Batman's Shadow

Chapter Twelve

*****

I walked down to a subway, and got on board. Thanagarian soldiers were already stationed on the cars, limiting the number of people on board. I slipped through, unnoticed. The train ride was about fifteen minutes long, and when we reached our destination, the Thanagarians said they were going to search us. They arrested people for carrying concealed guns, knives, even mace. Finally, they came to me.

"Take off your jacket," they ordered

"OK…"

I zipped open my jacket, and tugged on a hidden piece of string; several pellets dropped from the pockets, and cracked open, almost instantly filling the carriage with smoke.

"Thanagarian death gas!" I yelled

Suddenly, everyone panicked, trying to get out of the train. I stood my ground, and carefully slid on the Blue Beetle's night vision goggles. I saw right through the smoke, seeing crowds knock down the soldiers. I casually walked through the crowds, and on my way out, I pushed a soldier right out the window just as another train came by.

*****

Wayne Manor was left alone by the soldiers; I walked through the gates, and made the long trek up to the main house. The door wouldn't open. I knocked on it.

"Alfred!" I called

"What's the password?" Alfred asked

"Uh…" I remembered the manual, "Zurr En Arrh."

The door opened up, and I walked inside quickly.

"I should have seen this coming," Alfred said, "the Thanagarians gave up too easily the last time."

"Jill told me that they knew everyone's weaknesses, just like CADMUS II."

"Yes…I always thought Miss Shayera was up to more than we thought."

*****

Alfred and I went down to the Batcave. The Outsiders were already there, sitting around in the cave.

"Master Ib'n, your father has gone to the Bat-Bunker, which is his backup plan. He's left you instructions."

"Ib'n! You made it!" Jill ran up, and hugged me, "I was afraid you were dead!"

"Yeah, they almost got me," I said, "But then I tricked them into thinking that Thanagarian death gas was aboard a train. Caused a huge stampede and my smoke bomb didn't help."

"Good work," Quentin said, "Now, we have to move fast, before…"

Whatever Quentin was going to say, it just happened. Hawk Soldiers burst in through the Grandfather Clock entrance, and soared over to us.

"You!" the head Hawk Soldier exclaimed

We moved back, and Quentin reached for his gas.

"No!" I warned, "You'll live longer if they don't know who you are!"

They realized what I meant.

"Let them take us," I said, "Don't resist. Alfred, take the one-man escape pod to the Bat-Bunker."

"Yes Master Ib'n," Alfred said

*****

Alfred just made it to the pod, and descended to the tunnel leading to the Bat-Bunker. The five of us willingly surrendered to the Thanagarian soldiers. Jill, Victoria, Quentin, and Ollie were escorted home, but I was taken somewhere else. The soldiers escorted me in a kind of hover tank, and we drove to the mother ship above the International Hall of Friendship. They took me inside, and to a large silver room.

"Is this where you do the probing?" I asked sarcastically

The two soldiers escorting shackled me to the wall, and checked me for weapons. I was glad I had changed jackets when I got home.

"The Leader said she wanted to talk to you," one soldier said, "Don't try anything stupid."

******

The soldiers left, and in came a female Hawk-Soldier. Man, she was hot, like that girl in the movie Quentin and I snuck into, '_**Bad Girls of Thanagar**_' (Not as bad as most films of that caliber). She wore a hawk helmet, armored shoulder pads, and a skintight black suit. Her wings gleamed in the sunlight.

"What up," I said, "So how's this gonna work? I'm already tied up, so you can…"

"Shut up Ib'n," she said

"Mrs. Stewart!" I gasped

"Call me Shayera," she said, removing her helmet, "Ib'n Al Xuffasch Wayne, the Son of the Bat, the son of the one man who would stand in my way of taking over the world."

"And blowing it up?" I asked

"No, you stupid earthling!" she growled, "Why would I want to do that? I didn't spend fifteen years taking over the CADMUS organization to blow up what could be mine!"

"Then why did you do it?"

"To restart the Thanagarian empire," Shayera explained, "After the Gordanians destroyed our home world, they came running back to earth, begging for asylum. CADMUS handled it. I equipped them with Thanagarian weapons confiscated from the war, and began planning the so called Invasion. The funny thing is, this isn't an invasion; they were all around us this whole time. Well, half of the soldiers are earth criminals with our technology, but you get the picture."

*****

"Uh huh," I muttered, "So how'd you do the mind control?"

"Oh, that. We stole the mind control helmet from the grave of Gorilla Grodd."

"Got it…"

"In order to do it…"

"Yeah?"

"…we had to find the…"

"Uh huh…"

"…exact position where Lex Luthor…"

"eh…"

"Stop that!" Shayera slapped me, which hurt very badly, due to her being Thanagarian.

"Ow!" I groaned, "Wow, when I told Rex that his mother could hit better than him, I wasn't wrong!"

"Amazing what inferior human genes can do to a kid."

"So how long have you had Stewart under mind control?"

"I didn't need to; he was willing from the start. His hatred of society had grown over the years."

"Doesn't that ruin your plan, now that he's locked up and had his ring stolen?"

"Not really; as long as those meddling guardians don't interfere with a replacement lantern."

"What if someone else gets his ring?"

"Impossible. By now it would be out of charge, and we have the only lantern on earth."

"One by one, we'll take over the heroes. We already have the Man of Steel, the Wicked Witch of Themyscira, and we're this close to getting the Scarlet Speedster. Once we send Gotham's Masked Detective his son's index finger, we'll have him too. Speaking of which…"

Shayera took out a butterfly knife, and gripped my wrist with her free hand.

"Shayera, can I have some last words?" I asked

"Rrrg!" Shayera growled, "Fine!"

"It's morphing time!"

I flicked the ring on my finger, and it turned round, revealing Principal Stewart's Green Lantern ring. My clothes changed to my leather jacket Green Lantern uniform, then my fists glowed green, and I smashed through the shackles.

"No!" gasped Shayera, "How did you do that?"

"Stole your husband's ring. Blame it on those pirate films Alfred and I like to watch. Anyway, how do I undo the mind control on the League members?"

"You just expect me to tell you?" Shayera asked, "Please. I've faced Green Lanterns before, and you're just a kid. What'll you do?"

*****

Two minutes later, I had Shayera in a green energy glass box that was slowly getting shorter.

"Amazing what you can find in my Dad's computer," I said, "His credit card numbers, hi s underworld contacts…a list of his friend's fears, even."

"OK Ib'n! The jokes over!" Shayera grinned nervously, "You can stop. I'll tell!"

"Then tell," I ordered

"Just let me out and I'll tell you!"

"Not gonna happen, lady. I wasn't born yesterday."

Shayera was looking very scared. Claustrophobia was very easy to take advantage of.

"OK fine, I'm not telling you anything! I know you won't let it crush me; that would be murder."

"Shayera, I'm new to this ring thing," I explained, "I can't be held accountable for any mishaps that may occur."

The box was getting so small that Shayera had to lie down to avoid being crushed. It eventually got so low, that it was flattening her nose.

"OK! Destroy the transmitter on top of the mother ship, and that will break their control!"

"Good," I flicked my wrist, and the box stopped shrinking, "See? That wasn't so hard."

I started to walk out.

"Aren't you going to let me out?" Shayera asked

"Nope," I replied


	13. Chapter 13

In Batman's Shadow

Chapter 13

*****

*****

I floated through the roof, and saw the transmitter. I was about to blast it with a ray gun, when I realized I should be thinking more. I tried to think, would Shayera lie to me? Yep. Then I suddenly got this feeling, like I should power up the satellite dish on the other side. For some reason, I did it. I used my ring to give full power to the dish. It blasted out a signal; something told me it was cancelling out the mind control signal. Suddenly, I realized Superman was right behind me.

"What?" he asked, "How did I get here?"

"Mind control," I replied, "Now come on, we need to get rid of the Thanagarians."

"OK…"

*****

The two of us took off, and flew over the city, rounding up Thanagarian soldiers. I took out my cell phone, and sent the Outsiders a text message: it's safe.

"So, Green Lantern, I don't think I've seen you around," Superman said, "Are you new to this sector?"

"Uh…Superman, it's me," I said

"Connor?" he asked

"No!"

"Rex?"

"No, I'm…!"

"Bart?"

I groaned.

"Yes, Superman, I'm Bart West," I said

*****

We rounded up all the Thanagarian soldiers; heroes all over the country were fighting them. Dad found us, wearing an armored version of his costume. Over the course of several days, the Thanagarian soldiers had been rounded up. The Justice League, the Outsiders, the Doom Patrol, the Batmen of America, the Police, the Superman-emergency squad, the Anti-Crime Foundation, the Texas Rangers, and even the Teen Titans fought alongside, ensuring a quick victory. However, there was still a lot of damage done. Several of us were volunteering with the reconstruction of Gotham, but not as superheroes. Dad, Mr. Kent, and I were fixing up some ghettos that really should have been fixed up a long time ago. But there was still a lot to be done. We had no idea what the future would hold…

*****

Two months later…

*****

The Green Lantern Corps headquarters was on Oa, one of the oldest planets in the universe. After seeing my work during the Second Thanagarian Occupation, they decided I would be a suitable back-up for Kyle Rayner, the guy replacing Principal Stewart as the Green Lantern of earth. I stood in the meeting hall, surrounded by the guardians of the universe, and other people who had some to see my induction as a reserve Green Lantern. Dad was there, so was Mr. Kent, Mr. West, Mr. J'onzz, and Ms. Prince. Mr. Dugan and Coach Saunders stood behind them, along with Mr. Sage and Mrs. Sage. Commissioner Bullock and Officer Gordon were near the back of the crowd, near The Outsiders, who were in full costume. Even Ra's Al Ghul had made it there, announcing he would give up his life of crime and use his worldwide influence to repent for his sins. Talia was also there, but it wasn't the reunion we had expected. She looked away from me, as if I was not her son, but another person in a mission Jeddo (That's Arabic for grandfather; Ra's insisted that I called him that) ordered to carry out. She showed the same affection to my newfound half-brother, Hafeed Al Ra's. No matter, it didn't change what I already thought of her. Standing nearer the guardians were three former Green Lanterns of earth, Guy Gardner, Hal Jordan, and Alan Scott. Kyle Rayner also stood there. It was quite an honor to be near him, but not for the reasons you'd think; he had illustrated my favorite graphic novel.

*****

"Son of the Bat Wayne," said Ganthet, the head Guardian, "Do you swear to uphold the values of the Green Lantern Corps? Do you accept the responsibilities that come with the ring?"

"I do, sir," I replied

"Then place your ring on the Power Battery, and recite the oath of the corps."

I held up my hand to the massive lantern in the center of the room, and spoke clearly.

"In brightest day, in blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight," I said, my voice deepening, "Let those who worship evil's might, beware my power, Green Lantern's light!"

It was literally the proudest moment of my life. I no longer felt like I lived in Batman's shadow, I felt like my own man. But I still can't help wondering what my life could have been like if things had gone differently. What if Dad had ended up with Wonder Woman, like everyone assumed he would? If he had done that, I probably would have lots of brothers and sisters, and Dad would have been a better father. I could have been Connor Kent's best friend; I would have called my Dad's League friends 'Uncle Wally' or 'Aunt Shayera', names like that. Dad would have trained me to be the next Robin, or I would have become my own hero, using an un-imaginative name like 'Shadow' or 'Silver Fox'. But things are the way they should be. I am Composite Man, I am Green Lantern, but most importantly, I am Ib'n Al Xuffasch. Crime will never know what hit him.

*****

*****

The End


End file.
